Category: Addiction Treatment

Eye Movement Desensitizing Reprocessing Therapy

There is a real trend amongst holistic drug treatment centers to offer EMDR therapy as a part of an overall addiction recovery program.

EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitizing Reprocessing therapy, is a still somewhat controversial therapeutic technique that supposedly helps people to cope with the memory of traumatic events. Proponents rave about its efficacy and simplicity, and skeptics just want to see a bit more research data before jumping to firmly on that EMDR bandwagon.

But what is it? What is it supposed to do, and why should you get it done? I could explain, but this short video, produced by a therapist who uses the technique, does a pretty good job of answering these questions while letting you watch the process.

Advertisements

Eye Movement Desensitizing Reprocessing Therapy

There is a real trend amongst holistic drug treatment centers to offer EMDR therapy as a part of an overall addiction recovery program.

EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitizing Reprocessing therapy, is a still somewhat controversial therapeutic technique that supposedly helps people to cope with the memory of traumatic events. Proponents rave about its efficacy and simplicity, and skeptics just want to see a bit more research data before jumping to firmly on that EMDR bandwagon.

But what is it? What is it supposed to do, and why should you get it done? I could explain, but this short video, produced by a therapist who uses the technique, does a pretty good job of answering these questions while letting you watch the process.

They say that every dollar spent on addiction treatment and prevention yields a 7 dollar societal dividend. Hey – you gotta’ spend money to make money right…

Or maybe not – as the Bush administration must like money, yet once again they have cut total spending on addiction treatment and prevention programs; shaving an additional few hundred million or so from the 2009 budget. They must have a master plan – those crafty buggers. They must know something we don’t!

Here are some of the highlights:

SAMHSA, the main recipient of federal funding, will receive 70 million less in 2009 than in 2008.

The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment will lose 63 million.

The Center for Substance Abuse and Prevention will lose 36 million.

The Center for Mental Health Services will limp on, short 126 million.

The Safe and Drug Free Schools Program will lose 194.8 million in 2009 (but how important are safe and drug free schools anyway?)

It’s not all bad though; the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse will actually see a funding increase in 2009 – that’s right, an extra four hundred thousand dollars…

Well, it seems crazy to me – but when you consider that spending on drug related law enforcement has increased a whopping 57% during the last 8 years (treatment is up 3% – a below inflationary increase) I guess they’ve just decided on going ahead with Plan B…throwing EVERYONE in jail!

Americans now jail 1 in 100 – A record high, in any country, and at any time.

They say that every dollar spent on addiction treatment and prevention yields a 7 dollar societal dividend. Hey – you gotta’ spend money to make money right…

Or maybe not – as the Bush administration must like money, yet once again they have cut total spending on addiction treatment and prevention programs; shaving an additional few hundred million or so from the 2009 budget. They must have a master plan – those crafty buggers. They must know something we don’t!

Here are some of the highlights:

SAMHSA, the main recipient of federal funding, will receive 70 million less in 2009 than in 2008.

The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment will lose 63 million.

The Center for Substance Abuse and Prevention will lose 36 million.

The Center for Mental Health Services will limp on, short 126 million.

The Safe and Drug Free Schools Program will lose 194.8 million in 2009 (but how important are safe and drug free schools anyway?)

It’s not all bad though; the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse will actually see a funding increase in 2009 – that’s right, an extra four hundred thousand dollars…

Well, it seems crazy to me – but when you consider that spending on drug related law enforcement has increased a whopping 57% during the last 8 years (treatment is up 3% – a below inflationary increase) I guess they’ve just decided on going ahead with Plan B…throwing EVERYONE in jail!

Americans now jail 1 in 100 – A record high, in any country, and at any time.

From birth we learn from our family; as children, friends take on a bigger role until when in our teens, the collective wisdom of our peers exerts a primal influence. As adults we tend to think it all past us, but in reality our peer environment still influences our actions and perceptions, and the people we choose to associate with tend to have a profound impact on our lives.

And this is why although recovery alone is possible, recovery in a group is far more possible, and for the best likelihood of success recovery should harness the power of the group.

As using addicts or alcoholics, we tend to associate socially with others who share our life-focus for intoxication; it’s a natural byproduct of the disease! We take our social cues from our group of peers, and in a big way what we perceive to be acceptable standards of behaviors are derived from what others around us are also doing.

If I drink 12 beers a day but my friend drinks 24 beers a day, well, I’m a moderate drinker!

Getting into rehab offers a lot. It offers a period of enforced sobriety, which can transform a life on its own. It offers the wisdom and guidance of addictions professionals, and it offers classes in relapse avoidance and life skills that impart the tools we’ll need to succeed. But more, much more than this, it also offers us the inspiration of others also in recovery.

We learn through the process of group recovery that although we are unique as individuals, our problems with drugs and alcohol share an incredible similarity. We also see that if others, who have it just as bad as we do, can recover – then there is no reason why we can’t too. There is a real sense of inspiration that comes from working together towards a common goal with others who share the same troubles; and it can work a real magic on even the most reluctant and hard-headed of addicts.

Rehab is supposed to be a place of transformation, and there is true power in this collective effort of recovery. You might be able to do it alone, but it’s easier and far more likely done in a group setting.

Find a place of healing where you can find your inspiration. Find a group of fellow alcoholics or addicts who understand you as you understand them, and start your journey towards recovery together. It helps.

We, as humans, are social animals.

From birth we learn from our family; as children, friends take on a bigger role until when in our teens, the collective wisdom of our peers exerts a primal influence. As adults we tend to think it all past us, but in reality our peer environment still influences our actions and perceptions, and the people we choose to associate with tend to have a profound impact on our lives.

And this is why although recovery alone is possible, recovery in a group is far more possible, and for the best likelihood of success recovery should harness the power of the group.

As using addicts or alcoholics, we tend to associate socially with others who share our life-focus for intoxication; it’s a natural byproduct of the disease! We take our social cues from our group of peers, and in a big way what we perceive to be acceptable standards of behaviors are derived from what others around us are also doing.

If I drink 12 beers a day but my friend drinks 24 beers a day, well, I’m a moderate drinker!

Getting into rehab offers a lot. It offers a period of enforced sobriety, which can transform a life on its own. It offers the wisdom and guidance of addictions professionals, and it offers classes in relapse avoidance and life skills that impart the tools we’ll need to succeed. But more, much more than this, it also offers us the inspiration of others also in recovery.

We learn through the process of group recovery that although we are unique as individuals, our problems with drugs and alcohol share an incredible similarity. We also see that if others, who have it just as bad as we do, can recover – then there is no reason why we can’t too. There is a real sense of inspiration that comes from working together towards a common goal with others who share the same troubles; and it can work a real magic on even the most reluctant and hard-headed of addicts.

Rehab is supposed to be a place of transformation, and there is true power in this collective effort of recovery. You might be able to do it alone, but it’s easier and far more likely done in a group setting.

Find a place of healing where you can find your inspiration. Find a group of fellow alcoholics or addicts who understand you as you understand them, and start your journey towards recovery together. It helps.

I was just reading about a pair of vaccines being developed for the treatment of both cocaine addiction, and addiction to crystal meth. These are two pretty powerfully addictive substances, and if these proposed vaccines can do anything to increase the odds of success, then they would be very welcome additions to the current addictions treatment arsenal.

The way they work is that drug addicts are given a series of injections over three months, with each injection increasing the level of antibodies in the blood stream. These antibodies are designed to recognize, target and attack the drug, preventing it from reaching the brain. As more antibodies are released into the blood through further injections, decreasing amounts of the administered drug (cocaine or meth, each vaccine works for only one specific drug) actually make it to the brain. The vaccines are given over three months, and levels of the antibodies rise very gradually. The vaccine’s effects become noticeable after a month, and by three months, most of any administered drug is destroyed before reaching the brain. Because the process is so gradual, addicts feel little discomfort from the process of getting weaned off of their drug of choice.

Basically what these vaccines accomplish is that they allow addicted people to continue to use their drug, and get gradually less dependent on it through the action of the antibodies on the blood. As less and less of the drug actually makes it to the brain, the level of dependency falls, and it is far easier to ultimately quit using, with minimal or even no withdrawal symptoms experienced. These vaccines are not designed for prophylactic use across the general population, but are specifically to be used for drug addicts trying to stop using. These drugs are reported to greatly help with the ability to get off a drug, but do nothing to prevent a relapse, and as such they must be combined with other treatments if the individual is to remain drug free over the long term.

I think that these vaccines are really exciting, and if people motivated to stop using could get to rehab already virtually off the drug, they could then really expend all of their energy and focus to the learning needed, and a lot less to the discomfort and anxiety of withdrawal. These vaccines have one more step of testing to go before being submitted to the FDA for approval, and lets hope that all goes well, and before long meth and cocaine addicts can benefit from this new medical treatment for addiction.

Since elected officials have repeatedly proven that they are far more likely to lock up a drug addict then offer needed help, we need to change the way we try to improve access to treatment.

There are tens of millions of Americans with substance abuse problems requiring professional intervention, and only a small percentage of these people are getting the help that they need.

While undoubtedly a significant percentage of these people have the means to afford drug treatment, and for whatever reason choose not to get it; it is estimated that about 30% of these people, or many millions of Americans, have no health insurance coverage nor have the financial capabilities to afford comprehensive drug treatment expenses.

The fact that so many millions of Americans are slipping through the health coverage cracks in our Country should appeal to our humanitarian natures and induce a desire to enact change; but even if we view the issue callously and economically, we still come out far ahead by reducing the barriers to treatment entry.

Substance abuse cost’s Americans hundreds of billions of dollars a year in criminal and justice, health care and reduced productivity costs; and conservative estimates have 1$ spent on treatment reaping an eventual 7$ savings in societal costs. Since the numbers seem so overwhelmingly in favor of enacting social and economic change towards better treatment access, why are we not spending more public tax dollars on the very sound investment of drug treatment?

"Because drug treatments don’t work"

Well actually they do work, and drug rehab programs save countless thousands of lives a year…but the nature of addiction is such that often a single period of drug treatment doesn’t induce permanent change, and thus the treatment statistics per individual rehab visit are not particularly encouraging. It’s hard for public officials to publicly commit great resources to programs with such low success rates, and since incarceration and "getting tough on crime" are so much easier to sell to the electorate, we are continually enacting short sighted and ineffective policies.

I think that ideally we should divert a massive influx of dollars into both treatment programs and addictions research, but since I don’t think that this is likely to occur lacking enormous political will; we should instead concentrate on increasing spending into addictions research. We need to develop better pharmacological and treatment interventions, and once we do have something more concrete to offer, something that does increase the recovery rates per individual rehab visit, then I feel that the political motivation to fund needed substance abuse programming will materialize.

So get out the pen and paper, and if you’ve been touched by addiction either yourself or through the pains of a loved one, empathize with those that still need help, and let your State and Federal elected officials know that the funding of addictions treatment research is important to you.

How many more billions are spent in the development of hair loss, and erectile dysfunction medications than in all addictions research combined? Not that government funded Viagra trials…but still, it’s funny how our priorities can get so distorted.

Since elected officials have repeatedly proven that they are far more likely to lock up a drug addict then offer needed help, we need to change the way we try to improve access to treatment.

There are tens of millions of Americans with substance abuse problems requiring professional intervention, and only a small percentage of these people are getting the help that they need.

While undoubtedly a significant percentage of these people have the means to afford drug treatment, and for whatever reason choose not to get it; it is estimated that about 30% of these people, or many millions of Americans, have no health insurance coverage nor have the financial capabilities to afford comprehensive drug treatment expenses.

The fact that so many millions of Americans are slipping through the health coverage cracks in our Country should appeal to our humanitarian natures and induce a desire to enact change; but even if we view the issue callously and economically, we still come out far ahead by reducing the barriers to treatment entry.

Substance abuse cost’s Americans hundreds of billions of dollars a year in criminal and justice, health care and reduced productivity costs; and conservative estimates have 1$ spent on treatment reaping an eventual 7$ savings in societal costs. Since the numbers seem so overwhelmingly in favor of enacting social and economic change towards better treatment access, why are we not spending more public tax dollars on the very sound investment of drug treatment?

"Because drug treatments don’t work"

Well actually they do work, and drug rehab programs save countless thousands of lives a year…but the nature of addiction is such that often a single period of drug treatment doesn’t induce permanent change, and thus the treatment statistics per individual rehab visit are not particularly encouraging. It’s hard for public officials to publicly commit great resources to programs with such low success rates, and since incarceration and "getting tough on crime" are so much easier to sell to the electorate, we are continually enacting short sighted and ineffective policies.

I think that ideally we should divert a massive influx of dollars into both treatment programs and addictions research, but since I don’t think that this is likely to occur lacking enormous political will; we should instead concentrate on increasing spending into addictions research. We need to develop better pharmacological and treatment interventions, and once we do have something more concrete to offer, something that does increase the recovery rates per individual rehab visit, then I feel that the political motivation to fund needed substance abuse programming will materialize.

So get out the pen and paper, and if you’ve been touched by addiction either yourself or through the pains of a loved one, empathize with those that still need help, and let your State and Federal elected officials know that the funding of addictions treatment research is important to you.

How many more billions are spent in the development of hair loss, and erectile dysfunction medications than in all addictions research combined? Not that government funded Viagra trials…but still, it’s funny how our priorities can get so distorted.